--- title: "Alien: Covenant" year: 2017 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/alien-covenant" fi1m_score: 57 critics_score: 59 critics_reviews: 18 published: "2026-09-19T16:05:10.178218+00:00" updated: "2026-09-19T16:05:10.680826+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Alien: Covenant (2017) Directed by Ridley Scott · 2h 02m · MPA R · Horror, Science Fiction **Fi1m score: 57** · Critics 59 from 18 reviews *In a sentence:* Two Fassbenders share a flute in the ruins while the rest of the crew queue up to be eaten > Ridley Scott’s follow-up to *Prometheus* is more frightening than its predecessor and just as careless with its people. The first hour is grim and effective; the second belongs to Michael Fassbender, twice, and to a script that indulges him. ## Synopsis The colony ship Covenant is carrying two thousand sleeping colonists to a new world when a burst of stellar radiation tears through its sails and kills the captain. Oram (Billy Crudup), a man of faith who never expected command, takes over; Daniels (Katherine Waterston), the dead captain’s widow, wants to press on to the planned destination. Then the ship picks up a human voice singing from a nearer planet that looks green and habitable, and Oram decides to look. With the pilot Tennessee (Danny McBride) left in orbit, the crew take a lander down through a storm to a world of wheat and black mountains with no birds or insects, and something in the air gets into two of them. Walter (Michael Fassbender), the ship’s android, goes with them. ## Review Ridley Scott has gone back to the story he left in mid-air at the end of *Prometheus*, and he appears to have read the complaints. *Alien: Covenant* has more blood, more creatures, a faster first hour and, for a while, far less talk about who made us and why. It is more frightening than *Prometheus*. It is no better at people, and it goes wrong in the same place: when the humans stop running and start listening to an android. The first hour is the case for it. Dariusz Wolski shoots the planet under a lid of grey cloud, the light flat and cold, the wheat pale and the mountains black behind it, and the crew walk into it without helmets because a readout says they can, a folly that costs them this time. A man breathes in something from the ground and a few minutes later is on a table in the lander’s medical bay, with Karine (Carmen Ejogo) trying to hold him down and Faris (Amy Seimetz) on the other side of the glass, locking the door on her and reaching for a gun. We were frightened in the old, plain way, hands on the armrest, thinking about nothing but whether the door would hold. Pietro Scalia cuts it close and quick, and Chris Seagers has built the bay small and white, which is why the blood shows. Then a hooded figure leads the survivors to a dead city, and the film becomes about Michael Fassbender. He plays Walter, the Covenant’s android, built to be more obedient and less inventive than the earlier models, and David, the android from the *Prometheus* voyage, alone on this planet for a long time. Walter has an American flatness and a stillness that reads as restful; David has the tilted head and soft courtesy of the earlier film, gone sour. One scene, in which David teaches Walter to play a flute in a cave, is either the strangest thing Scott has directed or the funniest. We laughed, and were not sure we were meant to. The screenplay, by John Logan and Dante Harper, gives David a great deal to say about creators and what they owe their creations, and he says all of it, and Scott lets him. The crew are married couples, sent out in pairs to found a colony, which is a good idea for a horror film, because every death leaves a widow or widower among the survivors, and the script does almost nothing with it. Katherine Waterston’s Daniels is grieving and capable and written as an outline of Ripley without Ripley’s temper. Billy Crudup gives Oram a nervous faith the film raises and then forgets. Danny McBride is the surprise: Tennessee is the one crew member who sounds like a person, and his scenes in orbit, arguing over whether to fly the ship down into a storm, are the film’s most human. Demián Bichir, Carmen Ejogo and Amy Seimetz make what they can of a line or two each. Janty Yates puts them in work clothes rather than uniforms, which helps. Once the city is reached, the film settles into the shape of every Alien film: the crew is thinned, the creature we know arrives, there is a chase through a ship. The creature we know is the least frightening thing here. Scott’s new one, born pale and growing by the hour, unsettles because we have not seen it before; the black one we have been looking at since 1979, and it is now largely computer-generated and moves like it. The last set piece, on the top of a lander in flight, is loud and clearly shot and left us nothing. By then we were watching an expensive animation and had stopped fearing for anyone. Jed Kurzel’s score, sharing the credit with Harry Gregson-Williams, is low strings and a horn phrase anyone who has seen [*Alien*](https://film.one/film/alien) will recognise, and it is at its best when quietest, out in the wheat. *Alien* had one creature, one ship, and a crew who bickered like people with a job. *Prometheus* had questions it would not answer. *Covenant* tries for both. The horror is real for an hour; the ideas are all in one android’s mouth. The final stretch takes a turn we will not describe. See it for the medical bay, and for Fassbender twice, in a room with the lights off. Do not expect to remember anyone’s name a week later; the film does not seem to. It runs 122 minutes and carries a 15. *Fi1m score 57, published 19 September 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews split almost evenly, and the consensus settles on a modest pass rather than a welcome back. Nearly every critic, on either side of the line, singles out Michael Fassbender’s twin androids, David and Walter, as the film’s dramatic centre, and Variety picks the flute-teaching scene between them as the highlight. There is broad agreement that Ridley Scott has made it handsomely, and that the return to bloodier horror after Prometheus is a relief, with the early attacks praised as fast and nasty. The reservations cluster around the script: thin characters, talky exposition, and a plot that leans too hard on the 1979 original. The spread is wide. The Hollywood Reporter calls it the most satisfying entry since the first two films; Sight and Sound calls it the worst in the series. The New Yorker goes further, finding it pompous and unintentionally funny, and prefers Katherine Waterston to the drama around her. ### Reviews we read (18) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Todd McCarthy (90/100, inferred): The critic calls it the most satisfying entry in the franchise since the first two films. It is gripping throughout with real surprises, beautifully made, and renews the series creatively. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/alien-covenant-review-1000832/) - **Los Angeles Times**, Justin Chang (80/100, inferred): Ridley Scott delivers a sleek, suspenseful return to form that embraces its B-movie horror roots with confident balance of ideas and splatter. Chang singles out the early and relentless bloodletting as a highlight. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-alien-covenant-review-20170517-story.html) - **The i Paper**, Matthew Turner (★★★★): The critic praises Covenant as the Alien film fans have been waiting for, successfully balancing philosophical depth with visceral horror and strong performances, especially Fassbender's dual role. It singles out the revitalized franchise thrills and Scott's direction for particular praise. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/alien-covenant-film-review-64082) - **Empire**, Ian Freer (70/100, inferred): Covenant is seen as an upgrade on Prometheus with better Alien tropes and intense moments, but it lacks memorable characters and sustained tension. The Fassbender android scenes and visual flair are highlighted as strengths amid talky philosophical elements. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/alien-covenant-review/) - **Total Film** (65/100, inferred): The review calls it a smart and scary return that rights some Prometheus wrongs but suffers from too much reverence for the 1979 original, leading to safe choices and unconvincing CGI in key sequences. Fassbender's dual performance and atmospheric moments are praised. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/alien-covenant-review-aggressively-bloody-and-high-of-bodycount-but-rarely-intimidating/) - **Variety**, Peter Debruge (65/100, inferred): The film is a return to hard-R horror roots that offers relief to fans but feels like more of the same after Prometheus. Debruge singles out the Fassbender dual android performance and the flute-teaching scene as compelling highlights. [Read](https://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/alien-covenant-review-1202409157/) - **Radio Times**, Terry Staunton (★★★): The review highlights lots of scares and impressive monstrous action sequences but criticizes the lack of a meaty script and a retread of former glories with lightly pencilled characters. Fassbender's dual roles shoulder the dramatic weight amid the body count. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/alien-covenant-review-there-are-lots-of-scares-but-a-lack-of-a-meaty-script-in-a-retread-of-former-glories/) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (60/100, inferred): Ridley Scott blends familiar Alien tropes with themes of creation in this prequel, but the result is talky and reliant on expository dialogue. Sound design and Michael Fassbender's dual android performance stand out as highlights. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/may/14/alien-covenant-review-monstrous-mashup-katherine-waterston) - **The New York Times**, A.O. Scott (60/100, inferred): The film is an interesting but not especially effusive entry that sticks closely to franchise expectations. Scott singles out the creature's enduring appeal amid otherwise measured doses of terror and craft. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/17/movies/alien-covenant-review-ridley-scott.html) - **Evening Standard**, Matthew Norman (40/100, inferred): The review finds that familiarity has dulled the xenomorph's terror, with Scott failing to recapture the original's dread despite dazzling visuals and strong Fassbender work. It criticizes the uneven tone and overfamiliar plotting that prevents the film from delivering sustained horror. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/alien-covenant-film-review-return-of-an-interstellar-terror-a3680836.html) - **Screen Daily** (30/100, inferred): The film is described as a long, flat, no-frills journey that struggles to engage despite bloody shocks, feeling like a creative hull-breach in the series. It appeals mainly to devoted fans with back-to-basics gore but is unlikely to win new audiences. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/alien-covenant-review/5117487.article) - **Sight and Sound**, Kim Newman (30/100, inferred): The critic finds the film dramatically and intellectually inert, with a half-baked script that makes it the worst in the franchise despite Ridley Scott's skill as a filmmaker. Fassbender's dual performance and a couple of action scenes are noted but do not salvage the rote characters and lack of engagement. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/alien-covenant-review-space-vacuity) - **The New Yorker**, Richard Brody (20/100, inferred): The movie is misguided, pompous and unintentionally comic in its deadly serious approach to hubris and creation. Brody singles out Katherine Waterston's performance as a bright spot that surpasses the film's drama. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/alien-covenant-bursts-with-pomposity) - **/Film**, Karen Han (8/10): The critic finds the film a thoughtful and gnarly sequel that balances small-scale drama and horror with grandiose ideas about creation and humanity. They single out the android characters David and Walter for particular praise as the emotional and intellectual core. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/551051/alien-covenant-review-2/) - **Collider**, Haleigh Foutch (B-): The film is a messy hybrid that indulges both action-horror beats and ponderous philosophical themes without fully satisfying either, resulting in something at turns exquisite and infuriating. Scott's visual craftsmanship and imagery are singled out for praise, while baffling character decisions and a structurally challenged narrative draw complaint. [Read](https://collider.com/alien-covenant-review/) - **Deadline**, Pete Hammond (70/100, inferred): The critic calls it a decent, extremely well-made but not startlingly different version of what has come before in the franchise. He singles out Scott's style and the corker of an ending for praise while noting its familiarity as essentially a Prometheus sequel. [Read](https://deadline.com/2017/05/alien-covenant-review-ridley-scott-michael-fassbender-prometheus-sequel-video-1202093898/) - **Den of Geek**, Ryan Lambie (3/5): The critic finds it a solid but not perfect entry that improves on Prometheus by being more like a traditional Alien film with better crew and intense action-horror, though the second half has some awkward storytelling and over-the-top performance from Fassbender as David. Praises the visuals, music, and pacing in the horror sequences. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/alien-covenant-review-2/) - **The Wrap**, Alonso Duralde (50/100, inferred): The critic finds the film stylish but routine, with alien attacks that remain gross, scary, and suspenseful but dialogue scenes that are far less compelling. He singles out the monster-movie set pieces for praise while complaining that it functions mostly as an interstellar slasher with underdeveloped characters. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/alien-covenant-review-aliens-ridley-scott/) ## Details - **Director:** Ridley Scott - **Director:** Ridley Scott - **Screenplay:** Dante Harper, John Logan - **Story:** Jack Paglen, Michael Green - **Cinematography:** Dariusz Wolski - **Editor:** Pietro Scalia - **Music:** Jed Kurzel, Harry Gregson-Williams - **Production design:** Chris Seagers - **Costume design:** Janty Yates - **Producer:** Michael Schaefer, David Giler, Mark Huffam - **Cast:** Michael Fassbender as David / Walter; Katherine Waterston as Daniels; Billy Crudup as Oram; Danny McBride as Tennessee; Demián Bichir as Lope; Carmen Ejogo as Karine; Jussie Smollett as Ricks; Callie Hernandez as Upworth - **Runtime:** 2h 02m - **Certificate (MPA):** R - **Release (the US):** 19 May 2017 - **Genres:** Horror, Science Fiction - **Budget:** $97 million - **Box office:** $241 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svnAD0TApb8 ## Where to watch in the US - Peacock: streaming, hd, leaving 2026-10-01 - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd, leaving 2026-10-01 - Amazon Prime Video: add-on, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, uhd - Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd - Apple TV: buy $19.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $19.99, uhd *Checked 2026-09-19.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, IE, IL, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TR, UA, US, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Alien* (1979), Fi1m 92: One creature, one ship, and the last time this series trusted silence. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/alien.md) - *The Thing* (1982), Fi1m 88: Another isolated crew, another thing that gets inside them; Carpenter never explains it. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-thing.md) - *Ex Machina* (2014), Fi1m 82: A made man and his maker in one house, and the conversation goes badly. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/ex-machina.md) - *Annihilation* (2018), Fi1m 82: An expedition into a landscape that rewrites whatever walks into it, slowly and without mercy. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/annihilation.md) - *Solaris* (1972): Tarkovsky’s space station, where the thing that finds you is your own memory. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/alien-covenant